Americans United - Eric Cantorhttps://www.au.org/tags/eric-cantor
enWelcome To Fantasy Island: U.S. House Majority Leader Fights For ‘School Choice’ With Dubious Datahttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/welcome-to-fantasy-island-us-house-majority-leader-fights-for-school-choice
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Studies and reports consistently show that vouchers don’t improve student academic performance. Nor do they offer families any meaningful choices – the best schools have the opportunity to pick which students they want to accept, and vouchers don’t do anything to change that.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>When it comes to the issue of “school choice,” U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) likes to create his own reality.</p><p><a href="https://au.org/church-state/november-2013-church-state/people-events/house-leader-cantor-pushes-voucher-plan-during">Cantor has long been</a> an <a href="https://au.org/church-state/march-2013-church-state/au-bulletin/majority-leader-considers-school-voucher-push">advocate for school vouchers</a>, but lately his tales of voucher “success” stories are really going off the rails.</p><p>Yesterday, Cantor vowed during a speech at the Brookings Institution, a pro-voucher Washington, D.C.-based think, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/eric-cantor-school-choice-101912.html">that he would defend “school choice” from supposed attacks</a>.</p><p>“Right now, school choice is under attack,” Cantor said. “It is up to us in this room and our allies across the nation to work for and fight for the families and students who will suffer the consequences if school choice is taken away.”</p><p>And just who, exactly, is attacking voucher schemes? Even though <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/dangerous-wave-school-voucher-tsunami-threatens-to-swamp-public-education">13 states either created or expanded</a> voucher or neo-voucher programs last year, Cantor insisted that these plans are at risk. He blasted President Barack Obama and the U.S. Department of Justice, which has attempted to bring some oversight to Louisiana’s problematic voucher program. Cantor went on to try to fashion a convincing argument for the effectiveness of vouchers, failing spectacularly.</p><p>During his speech, Cantor praised the Washington, D.C., voucher program – the only federally funded scheme in the United States. He characterized it as a clear success, but then pulled a fast one: <em>Politico</em> reported that Cantor actually cited numbers from the city’s charter schools rather than its voucher students to back up his point.</p><p>In reality, D.C.’s voucher program <a href="https://au.org/church-state/january-2013-church-state/editorial/failed-experiment-it-s-time-to-shut-down-dc-s">is a disaster</a>.</p><p>A 2009 federal study of the D.C. voucher program reported that students who received vouchers did no better in math than their public-school peers.</p><p>Another federal examination of the program released in September 2013 exposed a number of major problems, including an overwhelming <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/schools-for-scandal-new-government-report-another-blow-against-dc-s-voucher">lack of safeguards</a> to ensure that the private schools accepting voucher students were both safe for students and meeting basic academic standards. The program is also rife with schools based on dubious educational models.</p><p>Cantor also gave rave reviews to Louisiana’s voucher scheme, even though it has been <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/voucher-swamp-audits-of-louisiana-s-school-choice-program-find-oversight">hampered by problems for years</a>.</p><p>Lacking any solid data, the House Majority Leader had to fall back on a warm and fuzzy anecdote. He told a story about a student he met in Philadelphia who supposedly “has finally been given a chance to pursue his dreams” now that he can attend a charter school.</p><p>Charter schools are not voucher schools, so the story does nothing to boost voucher plans. Furthermore, the tale turned out to be fishy. What Cantor didn’t mention, <em>Politico</em> noted, is the particular school this child now attends is a massive academic failure, turning out graduates with very low scores on college entrance exams.</p><p>Studies and reports consistently show that vouchers don’t improve student academic performance. Nor do they offer families any meaningful choices – the best schools have the opportunity to pick which students they want to accept, and vouchers don’t do anything to change that.</p><p>Voucher advocates always seem to ignore reality because they know the truth will never set them free. That’s why it’s no surprise Cantor can’t get his facts straight. The truth behind vouchers isn’t very flattering, so when it comes to promoting them, a well-crafted fantasy world is lifted up over reality every time.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eric-cantor">Eric Cantor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/brookings-institution">Brookings Institution</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/vouchers">vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-choice">school choice</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/charter-school">charter school</a></span></div></div>Thu, 09 Jan 2014 19:55:08 +0000Simon Brown9559 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/welcome-to-fantasy-island-us-house-majority-leader-fights-for-school-choice#commentsIn Vouchers They Trust?: GOP Clings To Idea Of ‘School Choice’ As Party Savior https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/in-vouchers-they-trust-gop-clings-to-idea-of-school-choice-as-party-savior
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Given that this isn’t the first we’ve heard of Republicans looking to run with vouchers, it’s safe to say they’re serious.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The GOP is still <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/breaking-up-is-hard-to-do-gop-ties-to-religious-right-reaffirmed">trying to rebrand itself</a> after flopping in the 2012 election, but it seems party leaders may be headed in the wrong direction: they’re planning a major push for school vouchers.</p><p><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/29/gop-talks-up-school-choice-as-good-policy-and-good/#ixzz2UmXvCvjh">A recent <em>Washington Times</em> report</a> said the Republican Party is hoping it can use “school choice” (a euphemism for vouchers) as a way to attract moderates, and the issue offers a “natural link” between the GOP base’s love of limited government and societal desires for better schools.</p><p>The article noted that last week in New Hampshire, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said promoting so-called school choice would be good for his party as a whole, while Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said at a separate New Hampshire event that a voucher program is a great cause because it saves states money and produces better educational results.</p><p>In reality, <a href="https://www.au.org/voucherFAIL">this is all a big mistake on many levels</a>.</p><p>In the first place, vouchers and neo-vouchers (such as tuition tax-credits) are bad public policy. They don’t achieve the goal of improving academic performance. In fact, multiple studies have shown no improvement by students receiving vouchers as compared with their public school peers.</p><p>Vouchers have also done little to help low-income students because the government stipends often do not cover the entire cost of tuition and other fees, including the cost of transportation to schools that can be many miles away.</p><p>In the second place, vouchers force all taxpayers to support religious schools, which are free to indoctrinate and discriminate. Since vouchers normally cover only a small portion of tuition at costly secular private schools, many children who receive vouchers end up at far cheaper religious schools simply because of the cost. That means vouchers are frequently a direct public subsidy of religion, something that two-thirds of state constitutions prohibit. </p><p>Finally, despite what Paul and Jindal would have you believe, “school choice” is bad politics. In 24 referenda since 1967, voters have overwhelmingly rejected taxpayer subsidies for religious schools – <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/job-well-done-florida-s-awful-amendment-8-defeated-by-wide-margin">most recently in a 2012 Florida referendum</a> that would have opened the door to vouchers as well as aid to other church ministries.</p><p>Jindal in particular should know all of this. His state’s voucher program <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/vouchers-vanquished-la-high-court-strikes-down-jindal-scheme-to-fund">just suffered a serious setback</a> when the state Supreme Court struck it down because the money for the program was taken from a fund that is only available to public schools.</p><p>Given that this isn’t the first we’ve heard of Republicans looking to run with vouchers, it’s safe to say they’re serious. U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is strong supporter of voucher schemes, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has said multiple times this year that <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/march-2013-church-state/au-bulletin/majority-leader-considers-school-voucher-push">he wants vouchers to be a policy priority</a>. </p><p>That’s why Americans United’s dedicated legislative team will continue to make this issue a priority. We’re telling lawmakers all the things that are wrong with vouchers, and we have launched grassroots campaigns in the past to make sure voters know the truth behind “school choice.”</p><p>For updates on our work with vouchers and other state issues, visit: <a href="https://www.au.org/content/state-action-center">https://www.au.org/content/state-action-center </a></p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/tuition-tax-credits-and-deductions">Tuition Tax Credits and Deductions</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/rand-paul">Rand Paul</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bobby-jindal">Bobby Jindal</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/vouchers">vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eric-cantor">Eric Cantor</a></span></div></div>Thu, 30 May 2013 19:17:13 +0000Simon Brown8469 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/in-vouchers-they-trust-gop-clings-to-idea-of-school-choice-as-party-savior#commentsWhat Federal Debt?: Congressional Republicans Want New Subsidy For Religious Schoolshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/what-federal-debt-congressional-republicans-want-new-subsidy-for-religious
<a href="/about/people/joseph-l-conn">Joseph L. Conn</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Call it a Rubio Goldberg Machine that takes tax dollars, spins them around and puts them into the collection plates of various religious schools that are then free to use the cash to indoctrinate and discriminate.
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Watch for a major fight in Congress over taxpayer subsidies for religious and other private schools.</p><p>In his Republican response to the State of the Union this week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) touted “school choice,” a euphemism for vouchers.</p><p>“We need to give all parents, especially the parents of children with special needs, the opportunity to send their children to the school of their choice,” Rubio said.</p><p>The next day, the Florida senator rolled out his “Educational Opportunities Act,” a neo-voucher bill that lets corporations and individuals donate money to “scholarship granting organizations” that pay for tuition at private schools. The donors get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit – for corporations up to $100,000 and for individuals up to $4,500 – and private schools, most of them religious, get a windfall of new money.</p><p>Call it a <a href="http://www.rubegoldberg.com/">Rubio Goldberg Machine </a>that takes tax dollars, spins them around and puts them into the collection plates of various religious schools that are then free to use the cash to indoctrinate and discriminate.</p><p>It’s more than a little ironic that Rubio, who spent a lot of time in <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/13/full-text-and-video-of-marco-rubio-s-state-of-the-union-response.html">his speech</a> talking about the federal debt problem,<a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/12/v-print/3231212/marco-rubios-school-voucher-plan.html#storylink=cpy"> told <em>The Miami Herald</em> t</a>hat he doesn’t know how much his scheme will cost.</p><p>The newspaper said Rubio’s private school slush fund reflects his close ties with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush has relentlessly pushed private school subsidies in the Sunshine State for years, and the <em>Herald</em> said some of his former associates helped Rubio concoct his plan.</p><p>The senator’s neo-voucher campaign is likely to have a companion effort in the U.S. House of Representatives. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/us/politics/eric-cantor-the-gop-majority-leader-looks-beyond-debt.html?hp&amp;_r=1&amp;">announced plans t</a>o put forward a “school choice” scheme, and it’s certain to have the enthusiastic backing of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).</p><p>Boehner is positively obsessed with taxpayer subsidies for religious and other private schools. He used all his political clout – and backroom political wheeling and dealing – to keep in place a federally funded voucher program in the District of Columbia that underwrites tuition at Roman Catholic, fundamentalist Protestant and Muslim schools.</p><p>The House speaker rarely misses a chance to tout his support private schools, especially the Roman Catholic schools that seem especially dear to him.</p><p>At President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Tuesday in Congress, Boehner chose Cardinal Donald Wuerl, a Catholic school principal and two students who use vouchers to attend Catholic school to sit in the balcony as his special guests for the occasion.</p><p>All this adds up to one thing, influential Republicans in Congress plan to push hard for some kind of federal taxpayer subsidy for religious and other private schools. Those of us who support church-state separation and a strong, effective public school system must be on the alert.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/tuition-tax-credits-and-deductions">Tuition Tax Credits and Deductions</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/marco-rubio">Marco Rubio</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/jeb-bush">Jeb Bush</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eric-cantor">Eric Cantor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-boehner">John Boehner</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/cardinal-donald-wuerl">Cardinal Donald Wuerl</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-vouchers">school vouchers</a></span></div></div>Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:09:50 +0000Joseph L. Conn8048 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/what-federal-debt-congressional-republicans-want-new-subsidy-for-religious#commentsWeak Week: School Voucher Boosters Launch ‘Choice’ Propaganda Drivehttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/weak-week-school-voucher-boosters-launch-choice-propaganda-drive
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">&#039;School Choice Week&#039;: a week-long cheerleading session for vouchers. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>It’s “School Choice Week.” This event was drummed up by a coterie of sectarian interest groups and right-wing ideologues that don’t like public schools and want to replace them with taxpayer-subsidized religious and other private schools.</p><p>Of course, school choice boosters don’t come right out and say that. They pretend School Choice Week is about all kinds of “educational choice” – everything from charter schools to homeschooling. Lurking behind the curtain, however, is an uncomfortable truth: This is mostly about vouchers.</p><p>But again, the promoters of School Choice Week don’t want to admit that. They treat the “v-word” like it’s radioactive – maybe because polls and referenda repeatedly show that it is. Their arguments have been focus group-tested for maximum effect. Consider the use of words like “choice” and “scholarship.” They sound so positive. We all like having choices, right? And who wouldn’t want to get a scholarship?</p><p>The problem is, parents and kids really don’t get the choice when it comes to private schools. The administrators who run the schools do. A stack of vouchers – I’m sorry, “scholarships” – reaching to the moon won’t get your child into a private school if that school decides that it doesn’t want to enroll her.</p><p>And the reason it doesn’t want her can be lots of things: Your child is the “wrong” religion. You’re part of a same-sex relationship or are divorced. Your child didn’t do so well on an admissions exam. Your child has special-education needs. You haven’t been to church lately. You don’t live a “biblical lifestyle.”</p><p>We need to cut through the euphemisms. At the end of the day, this is a week-long cheerleading session for vouchers. And vouchers are just a scheme to force the American taxpayer to support private religious schools.</p><p>Some of the stunts the supporters of School Choice Week came up with are kind of cheesy. A free concert was headlined by the Jonas Brothers. (They’re still around?)</p><p>But pop stars aside, it looks, unfortunately, as if 2013 is going to see a number of high-profile voucher battles. That may include the U.S. Congress. Today’s <em>New York Times</em> contains a<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/28/us/politics/eric-cantor-the-gop-majority-leader-looks-beyond-debt.html?hp&amp;_r=0&amp;gwh=A31A31384EE7575E7D5DC752B0A989CE"> front-page story</a> about efforts by U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the House majority leader, to revitalize the Republican Party. Among his ideas is a nationwide voucher plan. (Someone should tell Cantor that the American people <a href="https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/making-the-grade-new-poll-says-americans-support-their-public-schools">don’t support vouchers</a>.)</p><p>Several states are being targeted as well. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is expected to unveil a voucher plan tonight. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is pushing to expand that state’s current voucher program, even as the state supreme court deliberates the legality of the scheme.</p><p>Gov. Scott Walker is advocating an expansion of vouchers in Wisconsin. Action is expected in Texas, Maine, Mississippi, Alaska and other states as well.</p><p>With all of this activity going on, it’s a good time to take stock and remember exactly what’s going on here: This is an effort to shift scare tax resources away from the public schools – a system that by law must educate all comers and that is accountable to the people – to religious schools that can deny admission to young people for all sorts of reasons, are free to discriminate on religious grounds in hiring and are free to teach pretty much whatever they want.</p><p>This last point is important. Many fundamentalist academies teach creationism in lieu of accepted science and “Christian nation” claptrap instead of actual history. They disparage LGBT Americans and in some cases boast about how their primary text is the Bible (more accurately, their narrow interpretation of the Bible).</p><p>Many Roman Catholic schools, especially those affiliated with the more conservative wing of the church, still teach anti-women views, propagandize youngsters on issues like abortion and gay rights and integrate doctrine into any subject they want.</p><p>Now, to be clear, these schools generally have the right to do these things. But they have no right to demand that you pay for the propagation of such views. The clergy who run private religious schools often brag about how they use these institutions as instruments of evangelism. That’s exactly why the people sitting in the pews, not taxpayers, should pay for them.</p><p>Americans United has put together a number of resources to counter “School Choice Week.” Visit the <a href="https://www.au.org/voucherFAIL">page here</a>. Take these the resources and use them to debunk common arguments of the anti-public school brigade.</p><p>PS: Americans United will be tweeting a lot this week on school vouchers. <a href="https://twitter.com/americansunited">Follow us on Twitter</a> for more information. Check us out on <a href="http://voucherfail.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> as well.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/vouchers">Vouchers</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/school-choice-week">School Choice Week</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/betsy-de-vos">Betsy De Vos</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/mike-pence">Mike Pence</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bill-haslam">Bill Haslam</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/scott-walker">Scott Walker</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eric-cantor">Eric Cantor</a></span></div></div>Mon, 28 Jan 2013 18:26:17 +0000Rob Boston7948 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/weak-week-school-voucher-boosters-launch-choice-propaganda-drive#commentsAcute Agenda: For The House Leadership, Keeping The Religious Right Happy Is Job Onehttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/acute-agenda-for-the-house-leadership-keeping-the-religious-right-happy-is
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Religious Right has a most curious definition of the term &#039;freedom.&#039;</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>A week ago, I was sitting in a hotel ballroom surrounded by 3,000 Religious Right activists at the “Values Voter Summit.” Among the speakers we heard was House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)</p>
<p>Cantor talked about several issues, among them jobs. In fact, we’ve been told over and over again that this Congress wants to get America back to work. But here’s a funny thing: We’re not actually getting legislation that has anything to do with jobs. It’s simply not on the House’s agenda.</p>
<p>So what are we getting? Legislation that advances the repressive agenda of the Religious Right.</p>
<p>The House yesterday passed a bill proponents call the “Protect Life Act.” It’s an odd name for a piece of legislation that actually puts the lives of women at risk.</p>
<p>Under the bill (H.R. 358) women would not be allowed to spend their own money on a private insurance plan that includes coverage for abortion through the state health care exchanges that are being created under the new health care bill.</p>
<p>A separate provision of the legislation would alter existing law and allow religious hospitals to refuse to provide abortions for any reason – even if the woman’s life was in jeopardy. That provision has led NARAL Pro-Choice America to label H.R. 358 the <a href="http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/press-releases/2011/pr10132011_hr358passage.html">“Let Women Die”</a> bill.</p>
<p>The measure was introduced by U.S Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), a long-time Religious Right ally. Cantor has been a big supporter, telling reporters that the bill is designed “to ensure that no taxpayer dollars flow to health care plans that cover abortion and no health care worker has to participate in abortions against their will.”</p>
<p>It goes much beyond that. The measure is designed to restrict access to abortion (which remains a legal procedure, by the way) and wipe out a law that requires hospitals to assist people in life-threatening emergencies.</p>
<p>Religious extremists who seek to control our reproductive lives love to portray abortion as some frivolous choice a woman makes. In fact, the sad truth is that a lot can wrong during a pregnancy, and some women find themselves facing literal life-or-death situations.</p>
<p>During the House debate over the measure, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2011/10/13/protect-life-act-passes-house-of-representatives_n_1009876.html">spoke powerfully</a> about her own experience while pregnant.</p>
<p>“I was pregnant, I was miscarrying, I was bleeding,” Speier said. “If I had to go from one hospital to the next trying to find one emergency room that would take me in, who knows if I would even be here today. What my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to do is misogynist.”</p>
<p>At the Values Voter Summit last week, I heard the word “freedom” tossed around quite a lot. The Religious Right has a most curious definition of that term. It’s not the right to run your own life and make your own decisions – it’s someone else having the “freedom” to tell you what to do according to his or her religion.</p>
<p>At the Summit, I also heard insistent calls to get the government out of our business – as well as claims that health care reform put Big Brother between you and your doctor. Pardon me, but this bill would seem to be the ultimate example of the government getting between and woman and her doctor. I sense more than a whiff of hypocrisy here.</p>
<p>The good news is that this draconian measure is unlikely to pass the Senate, and even if it did, Obama has vowed a veto.</p>
<p>But let this be a wake-up call to all of us: It’s yet another reminder that there are people out there who don’t trust you to make your own decisions, who seek to control even the most personal and intimate aspects of your life. They are determined to subject you to their narrow religious views, whether you subscribe to those views or not.</p>
<p>After all, they have consulted their holy books and their lofty spiritual leaders, <em>and they know what’s best for you</em>.</p>
<p>Such people are dangerous. But right now, the unfortunate reality is that they have some powerful friends in very high places.</p>
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</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/abortion">Abortion</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eric-cantor">Eric Cantor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/family-research-council-frc">Family research Council (FRC)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/joe-pitts">Joe Pitts</a></span></div></div>Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:08:49 +0000Rob Boston6166 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/acute-agenda-for-the-house-leadership-keeping-the-religious-right-happy-is#commentsEastern Education: What Americans Could Learn from Poland’s Growing Church-State Separation Movementhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/eastern-education-what-americans-could-learn-from-poland%E2%80%99s-growing-church
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Maybe we should buy the Religious Right a ticket to Poland so they could learn a thing or two about real reform.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>At a time when the Religious Right wants to put church and state together like peanut butter and jelly, there is a growing movement for church-state separation in a Catholic-dominated Eastern European country.</p>
<p>In Poland’s recent parliamentary election, Palikot’s Movement, a new Polish party that favors legalizing gay marriage and more liberal abortion laws in addition to church-state separation, <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/report-polands-premier-to-1198370.html">finished in third place with 10.02 percent of the vote</a>. This means that the party will have 40 seats in Poland’s 460-member parliament, including one for Poland’s first transsexual lawmaker and one for its first openly gay lawmaker.</p>
<p>It will also mean that Palikot’s Movement may be able to advance its church-state separation agenda. According to a recent report by the Associated Press, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jm6KZMuYf6qFuYIrNCpAuSs-tAGg?docId=974625a9750b4137b1819e543c62fe9d">party leader Janusz Palikot said he will seek the removal of a Christian cross</a> that hangs in the assembly hall of the Sejm, Poland’s lower house. He also said he hopes to end laws that make it a crime to insult a person’s religion.</p>
<p>The church is “absolutely too powerful,” Palikot said.</p>
<p>“It's only an illusion that Poland is so extremely Catholic. We want to remove religion from the public spaces,” he said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, back in the United States the Family Research Council and its allies just wrapped up the annual “Values Voter Summit,” which is a chance for people who represent a narrow (and narrow-minded) portion of the fundamentalist Christian voting bloc to come together and figure out ways to bring church and state closer. About 3,000 people attended this year, as did almost all of the major GOP presidential candidates along with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).</p>
<p>If you read Rob Boston’s <a href="http://blog.au.org/2011/10/10/weekend-culture-warriors-some-things-i-learned-at-the-values-voter-summit/?utm_source=au-homepage&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Recently-on-homepage">excellent recap of the Summit yesterday</a>, you know that retired Army Gen. William Boykin made the ridiculous assertion that parts of the Constitution are based on the Bible. The Constitution, he said, is based on sermons delivered during the colonial era, and he suggested that the Bible is somehow incorporated into the Constitution. He did not specify which parts, exactly, are based on the Bible because there aren’t any.</p>
<p>Boykin also said America’s churches have been silenced and face persecution. Not sure what led him to form that opinion, but the attendees at the Summit nodded right along with Boykin like bobble-head dolls.</p>
<p>Just as the Religious Right and the Tea Party have gained power thanks to disapproval of the Obama administration and the general state of the economy, reports indicate that part of the growth in popularity of Palikot’s Movement stems from increasing dissatisfaction among Poles with the establishment.</p>
<p>Palikot’s Movement sounds a lot like an alternative-universe version of the Tea Party, but instead of running around in colonial garb and demonizing the opposition, the new Polish party is trying to bring about positive change that includes separating church and state.</p>
<p>In a time marked by global uncertainty, it’s refreshing to see a country like Poland looking to a future of liberal progressivism to make things better rather than clinging to some rose-tinted, misguided idea of what the “good old days” used to be like, as the Religious Right is doing.</p>
<p>Maybe we should buy the Religious Right a ticket to Poland so they could learn a thing or two about real reform.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/churches-and-politics">Churches and Politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/fighting-religious-right">Fighting the Religious Right</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/lobbying-by-churches-and-religious-groups">Lobbying by Churches and Religious Groups</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-churches-and-politics">Other Issues regarding Churches and Politics</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eric-cantor">Eric Cantor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/janusz-palikot">Janusz Palikot</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-boehner">John Boehner</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/palikots-movement">Palikot&#039;s Movement</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/poland">Poland</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tea-party">tea party</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/william-boykin">William Boykin</a></span></div></div>Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:22:05 +0000Simon Brown6170 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/eastern-education-what-americans-could-learn-from-poland%E2%80%99s-growing-church#commentsResolution Revolution?: House GOP Leader Proposes Dropping Symbolic Statementshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/resolution-revolution-house-gop-leader-proposes-dropping-symbolic
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">House resolutions, which are intended to be symbolic and honorific in nature, have become weapons in the Religious Right’s war against church-state separation. So let’s get rid of them. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives in January. Now comes the hard part: figuring out how to govern.</p>
<p>U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), whom everybody acknowledges will be the next House majority leader, has issued a list of 22 proposals he would like to see enacted. Some of them are legislative in nature (such as repealing the health-care bill) and others concern the internal workings of the House.</p>
<p>One item jumped out at me. <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44641.html#ixzz14PfcDnEX">Cantor believes</a> the House spends too much time dealing with symbolic resolutions honoring people, events and places.</p>
<p>In a letter to his fellow Republicans, Cantor wrote, “I do not suspect that Jefferson or Madison ever envisioned Congress honoring the 2,560th anniversary of the birth of Confucius or supporting the designation of national ‘Pi’ day. I also do not believe that there is a groundswell of public enthusiasm demanding that Congress act on these sorts of resolutions. Instead, I believe people want our time, energy, and efforts focused on their priorities.” (<a href="http://bearingdrift.com/2010/11/04/eric-cantors-letter-to-incoming-congressional-republicans/">This</a> conservative Web site has the full text of the letter.)</p>
<p>Cantor goes on to propose the elimination of “expressions of appreciation and recognition for individuals, groups, events, and institutions.”</p>
<p>I hope Cantor is including all resolutions here, not just ones tied to specific people or events. If so, I have to say I couldn’t agree more with his proposal. Not only do these resolutions take up Congress’ time, some of them are divisive and advance the Religious Right’s agenda.</p>
<p>In 2009, for example, U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes introduced a “Spiritual Heritage Week” resolution studded with bogus “Christian nation” history and other dubious assertions. While <a href="http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/archives/2009/06/spiritual-heritage-hoax.html">this monstrosity </a>never passed the House, it became a rallying point for the Religious Right and another front in the “culture war.”</p>
<p>Forbes also sponsored a separate resolution lauding a Bible once owned by Abraham Lincoln. He filled <a href="http://blog.au.org/2009/03/17/presidential-palaver-resolving-to-save-abe-lincoln-from-the-christian-nation-crowd/">the resolution</a> with more anti-separation claptrap.</p>
<p>Do you sense a pattern here? House resolutions, which are intended to be symbolic and honorific in nature, have become weapons in the Religious Right’s war against church-state separation.</p>
<p>So let’s get rid of them. Sure, it means Congress won’t spend any time recognizing National Brussels Sprouts Day in 2011, but I can live with that. (As a matter of fact, I can live without brussels sprouts, period.)</p>
<p>Will Cantor’s plan to ditch congressional resolutions really come to fruition? Call me skeptical. I am reminded of 1994, the last time a gaggle of aggressive Republicans blew into town and promised to shake up the House.</p>
<p>Their leader was Newt Gingrich, who promised to reform the way the House did business and save taxpayer money. Gingrich toyed with the idea of eliminating the House chaplain to save a few bucks. (It was one of the few times I ever agreed with old Newt.) The Religious Right set up howls of protest, and the idea was quickly dropped. The House retained its chaplain.</p>
<p>I should also note that Cantor has himself sponsored or co-sponsored religious resolutions in the past. But perhaps he’s had a change of heart, and maybe this time things will be different.</p>
<p>Cantor is on to something here. Let’s hope he follows through.</p>
<p><a href="http://bearingdrift.com/2010/11/04/eric-cantors-letter-to-incoming-congressional-republicans/"><br /></a></p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/brussels-sprouts">brussels sprouts</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/elections">Elections</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/eric-cantor">Eric Cantor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/house-representatives">House of Representatives</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/newt-gingrich">Newt Gingrich</a></span></div></div>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:16:27 +0000Rob Boston2130 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/resolution-revolution-house-gop-leader-proposes-dropping-symbolic#comments